MAPLETON, IL ‒ On June 2, 2022, a 39-year-old employee of a Mapleton foundry fell and was immediately incinerated in an 11-foot-deep pot of molten iron heated to more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. A federal investigation determined that, if required safety guards or fall protection had been installed, the 39-year-old employee’s ninth day on the job might not have been their last.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today recognized 835 employers from around the nation for their commitment to hiring and retaining U.S. military veterans during an online event broadcast from the department’s Washington headquarters.

CHICAGO ‒ With injury rates among the more than 90,000 food production workers in Illinois and Ohio significantly higher than other manufacturing workers, the U.S. Department of Labor has stepped up its outreach and enforcement efforts to reduce workplace hazards and better protect workers in these states.

BRAINTREE, MA – A Quincy-based roofing contractor exposed workers on the roofs of a garage and house in Boston’s Mattapan neighborhood to potentially fatal falls from heights between seven and 21 feet, U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors found.

PHOENIX – The U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona has ordered a Phoenix-based provider of non-medical home care services to pay 253 employees a total of $521,905 in back wages and liquidated damages after the U.S. Department of Labor determined the employer willfully denied them overtime pay.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh issued the following statement on the October 2022 Employment Situation Report:

“Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the American economy added 261,000 jobs in the month of October, and the unemployment rate rose to 3.7 percent from 3.5 percent in September, continuing to remain near historic lows for the past several months.

ATLANTA – As the nation marks Home Care and Hospice Month, the U.S. Department of Labor will hold a public webinar on federal wage and hour regulations for home care, residential care and nursing care industry employers, workers and other stakeholders in the Southeast.

LYNDHURST, NJ – The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey has ordered a northern New Jersey staffing agency to pay $65,000 in damages to an employee fired after they raised concerns about not getting paid for all of their hours worked.

MANCHESTER, NH – A federal investigation into the pay practices of a New Hampshire home care service provider that found the employer denied employees overtime wages has recovered $374,640 in back wages and liquidated damages for 46 healthcare workers.

MEDFORD, OR – A federal investigation has recovered $375,233 in back wages and liquidated damages from a Medford restaurant for 11 workers after finding their employer kept servers tips, threatened to fire employees if they kept cash tips, and failed to pay kitchen workers overtime.

In the week ending October 29, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 217,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 217,000 to 218,000. The 4-week moving average was 218,750, a decrease of 500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 219,000 to 219,250.

Employer:                              Godly Security Agency LLC

Investigation site:                  1712 Kingsley Ave. Orange Park, FL 32073

WASHINGTON – Citing an unprecedent rise in global energy costs, Century Aluminum Co. – the nation’s largest producer of primary aluminum – announced plans in June 2022 to curtail operations and begin the idling process at its Hawesville, Kentucky, smelter until energy prices return to more normalized levels.

Who:               U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Swank Enterprises Inc.

What:             Workplace safety alliance

WASHINGTON – In the first visit to Jordan by a senior U.S. Department of Labor official in more than two decades, Deputy Undersecretary of Labor for International Affairs Thea Lee met with government officials, and labor union and business leaders for discussions on how the two nations can cooperatively help strengthen workers’ rights in the Middle East kingdom.

DELMONT, PA – Following a three-day trial and three years of litigation, a jury in a federal court in Pennsylvania has determined a Delmont restaurant and its owner intentionally shortchanged 15 servers, dishwashers, bussers and cooks more than $214,000 in wages, confirming the findings of a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation and litigation by its Office of the Solicitor.

Participant:   Chatham Village Foods, Wareham, Massachusetts

CONCORD, NH  – The U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire has entered a consent preliminary injunction to prevent a West Lebanon home healthcare business and its president from coercing employees to “kick back” wages recovered for them by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. The court also ordered them to stop interfering with a current investigation.

ATLANTA – Less than one month after the U.S. Department of Labor cited Dollar General Corp. and Dolgencorp LLC with more than $1.6 million in penalties for putting its workers’ safety at risk, federal inspectors have issued citations for similar violations at store locations in Alabama, Florida and Georgia, and added $2,777,640 in proposed penalties now owed by one of the nation’s largest discount retailers.

NAMPA, ID – A federal investigation has recovered $88,185 in back wages and liquidated damages for 90 caregivers employed by an Idaho home care agency whose pay practices denied the workers their legally earned wages, including overtime.